Nintendo is hoping the long-awaited Mario Kart World will get the Switch 2 off to a speedy start, but it has some big tires to fill.
How do you follow up on the most successful racing game of all time? Between the Wii U and Switch versions of the game, Mario Kart 8 has sold over 75 million copies, delivering consistent chart-topping performance for over a decade. Nintendo is certainly hoping their long-awaited follow-up, Mario Kart World, will get the Nintendo Switch 2 off to a speedy start, but the game has some big tires to fill.
Does Mario Kart World have a chance of matching up to the Mario Kart 8 behemoth? I recently had the chance to go hands-on with Mario Kart World at a Switch 2 preview event (here are my general thoughts on the new hardware) and you can drift on down for my early impressions…
During the Switch 2 preview event, journalists initially had the chance to go hands-on with Mario Kart World’s traditional Grand Prix races, then later could come back to try the new Knockout Mode, in which a field of players race through six interconnected courses in hopes of being the last one standing. Admittedly, my reaction after playing through a handful of Grand Prix Cups was somewhat muted. This was partly due to the fact that Nintendo had set these introductory Grand Prix races to 50cc, so they felt quite pokey, but the action itself was also very familiar.
Mario Kart 8’s anti-gravity gimmick, in which karts can race along elevated surfaces, returns in Mario Kart World, although it seems to be used a bit less often. Even beyond the anti-gravity mechanic, Mario Kart World feels very similar to MK8 in terms of controls, track design, and the way you interact with other racers. Of course, that’s not a bad thing, Mario Kart 8 is a great game, but the feeling of “newness” I was hoping for from MK World wasn’t necessarily coming through during my early minutes with the game.
Granted, Mario Kart World does offer some core gameplay differences. The field of racers has doubled in size to 24, which doesn’t change the feel of the action that much, although there can be times when things get frantic on a level not seen before. And yes, that means you’re going to be on the receiving end of more items than ever, which may not be great news depending on your personal Mario Kart tastes (I think items are half the fun). On that topic, there are some new items, including some useful seeming ones like the new Gold Shell that leaves behind a trail of coins, as well as a few somewhat odd additions, like food items that mainly serve to change the costume your character is wearing (much like Donkey Kong Bananza, playing dress-up seems to be a big focus of MK World).
